R. SANTHOSHKUMAR Vs. MANJOO & COMPANY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER herein is the accused in S.T.No. 1786/09 pending before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court -I, Kannur. Cognizance was taken by the court on the basis of a complaint brought by the first respondent herein alleging the offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The petitioner had worked for sometime as employee under the complainant in his office at Nedumangad. The case of the complainant is that in discharge of an amount of Rs.50,000/ - borrowed by the petitioner, he issued a cheque, and when the complainant presented the cheque for collection in the Punjab National Bank, Kannur, it was bounced due to insufficiency of funds. The complainant filed a complaint before the court at Kannur on the allegation that part of the cause of action arose within the jurisdiction of the court at Kannur. But, the case of the petitioner is otherwise, that no part of the cause of action arose within the jurisdiction of the said court, and that the right court to try the offence is the court of the learned Magistrate at Nedumangad.

(2.) THIS is not a case where the complaint does not disclose a cause of action. Dispute is only whether cause of action for the prosecution under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act arose within the jurisdiction of the court at Kannur, or within the jurisdiction of the court at Nedumangad. On the question of jurisdiction, the accused now seeks an order under Section 482 Cr.P.C., quashing the complaint itself.